Much well-known business advice is sadly obsolete but can still be found in articles, business books and, not least, in daily use in the workplace. It seems that some companies are still guided by thinking that is sadly out of date - if it was ever true to begin with.
The worst of these old maxims are not only wrong, they’re bad for people and bad for business. Businesses who use them are making their employees unhappy and are harming the bottom line.
Here’s my pick of the top 5 business maxims in serious need of an update - with a suggested replacement for each.
Old maxim #1: Failure is not an option
Meaning: We absolutely, positively must succeed.
Guess what: No matter how many times you repeat this maxim, failure remains an option. Closing your eyes to this fact only makes you more likely to fail. Putting pressure on people to always succeed makes mistakes more likely because:
- People who work under pressure are less effective
- People resist reporting bad news
- People close their eyes to signs of trouble
This is especially true when it’s backed up with punishment of those who make mistakes. Peter Drucker provocatively suggested that businesses should find all the employees who never make mistakes and fire them, because employees who never make mistakes never do anything interesting. Admitting that mistakes happen and dealing constructively with them when they do makes mistakes less likely.
Also, failure is often the path to new, exciting opportunities that wouldn’t have appeared otherwise. Closing your eyes to failure means closing your eyes to these opportunities.
New maxim: Failure happens. Deal with it.
Old maxim #2: The customer is always right
Meaning: The customer is king. We satisfy our customers’ every need.
No. No, no, no. This tired business maxim often means that loyal hardworking employees are scorned in favor of unreasonable customers. It also, ironically, results in bad customer service.
“The customer is always right” makes employees unhappy and unhappy employees almost always give customers bad service.
New maxim: Happy employees means happy customers.
Old maxim #3: Never be satisfied
Meaning: You can never be satisified and complacent in business. You’ve always gotta want more.
This is a bad mistake which rests on a very fundamental misconception, namely that being satisfied means that you stop acting. That satisfaction breeds complacency and therefore that a happy, satisifed company will be passive. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a constant sense of dissatifaction in an organization sends one powerful message: We’re not good enough! The irony is that this results in worse performance.
People who constantly appreciate all the good in their organization and express their satisifaction create a much more positive working environment characterized by more:
- Motivation
- Energy
- Self-confidence
- Happiness at work
This is not about closing your eyes and pretending things are great if they’re not. It’s about appreciating the fact that people in constant states of dissatisfaction erode an organization’s will and ability to act. The trick is to appreciate what you have and still aim for more.
Replacement: Always be appreciative but never complacent.
Old maxim #4: Nice guys finish last
Meaning: We can’t be too nice in business. In fact, being nice may hinder your career and impede results.
That’s just not true, of course we should be nice at work. This doesn’t mean that you have to be nice to all of the people all of the time, but it means that you absolutely can be a nice person and succeed in business. Unpleasant people hurt the bottom line. In a networked world reputation matters, and it’s more important to be generous and likeable than to be ruthless and efficient.
New maxim: Nice guys get the job done.
Old maxim #5: Grow or die
Meaning: A business is either growing or dying. A business can’t be successful if it’s not growing.
It’s interesting to see how growth has been elevated to an automatic good, questioned by very few businesses and executives. Growth certainly has some positive effects especially because it creates new possibilities and challenges for an organization and its people. I’m not saying that growth is bad but that growth isn’t always right for every business. Sometimes a business might be better off spending a quarter or a year not growing but simply consolidating existing business. Consequently not growing or even shrinking does not automatically represent business failure.
That’s what Semco’s CEO Ricard Semler meant when he said this:
There is no correlation between growth and ultimate success. For a while growth seems very glamorous, but the sustainability of growth is so delicate that many of the mid-sized companies which just stayed where they were doing the same thing are much better off today than the ones that went crazy and came back to nothing. There are too many automobile plants, too many airplanes. Who is viable in the airline business?
If someone asks me, ‘where will you be in 10 years’ time?’, I haven’t got the slightest idea. I don’t find it perturbing either if we said, ‘look, in 10 years’ time Semco could have 500 people instead of 3,000 people’; that sounds just as interesting as 21,000 people. I’d hate to see Semco not exist in 10, 20, 50 years’ time, but what form it exists in, what business it’s in and what size it is are not particularly relevant.
Growing also entails its own risks, especially fast growth on borrowed money. This almost killed
It was back in 1990 or so and we were growing the company by 40 to 50 percent a year and we were doing it by all the textbook business ways — adding more dealers, adding more products, building stores. Growing it like the American dream, you know — grow, grow, grow. And one year we predicted 40 to 50 percent growth and there was a recession and all the sudden we only grew 20 percent. And at the same time, our bank was going belly-up and we had cash-flow problems and it went to absolute hell. And I had been the person who had never bought anything on credit in all my life. I always paid cash for everything, and to have to call someone and say, “I’m sorry, I can’t pay my bills this month,” was killing me. And I realized that I was on the same track as society was — endless growth for the sake of growth.
That’s when I decided to put the brakes on and decided to grow at a more natural rate — which basically means that only when our customers want something do we make more, but we don’t prime the pump.
New maxim: Grow when you gotta.
Wrap-up
The scary thing about maxims is that they’re often accepted unquestioningly because they come in the shape of old addages which are repeated - a little like nursery rhymes used to educate children. That means it’s not enough to oust the old maxims we need to replace them with new ones that are guaranteed to bring better results for people and for the bottom line.
57 comments:
I don't know if happy employees always means happy customers. The bottom line is that customers should be treated with respect - that should be the new maxim. On the other hand, I agree with the other four, especially the last one. Growth is not for every business. And there seems to be this idea that staying still IS dying, even though that might be the best option for a particular business.
I agree that a business that is not growing is not dying, but standing still is not the way to go either. The market places pressure on companies to constantly grow. Business is so competitive now, such that if a company does not come up with new and innovative ideas to boost sales, its competitors will and put themselves a step ahead in the game.
A company should grow at a constant steady rate, rather than aim really high and expand very quickly. A company that tries to grow prematurely will only waste money and end up suffering losses.
Maxims do grow up and has expiration dates. The world expires them and chooses when to expire them.
Correction:
I meant maxims do grow out of date.
Uh, may be some maxims do grow up, but hardly if there is a maxims that last forever.
Forget it, too much to think about, philosophy is getting me crazy! I just want to do well in your class. Happy professor means happy student. Nice students get the good grade. Miracle happens, deal with it. Always look on the bright side but never slack off. Schmooze when you gotta.
Correction again:
I meant be a nice student when you gotta.
As for why happy professor means happy students, it does not seems very logical, but the reason is more inductive than deductive. Happy students are happy as a result of happiness they received in the class spread by a happy professor.
Dear Prof. K.,
What economics do most successful managers or management leaders studied? I also heard from one of my economics professor, who jokes a lot in class, that most of the CEO's that came out of the GE have the background training in audit, is that true?
Yours sincerely,
Your knowledge zealous and hunger student blogger
I believ, as information technology is continuously making its mark on the way we do things today, almost everything we do in our day to day life is an updated version of some old phenomenon. Similar changes are needed on with these five business you mentioned in your post, we if the way of doing business has changed, the boundaries should also be widened.
"Failure is not an option", I do agree with your explanations why this should be considered an option nowadays. As economies are advancing, everyone is trying to get most of what they can out of their resources. I think the worst of this maxims is that it keeps individuals from taking on the risk, they try ignoring their chances of success when they are faced with high risk environment. This is what different efficiency as well. Because if people won't try how would they find good, interesting ideas.
"The customer is always right", I do believe this is correct in a sense. The idea that is implied is that the goal of the company should be to keep the customer happy. It does not mean that you just accept every opinion of the customers. In extremely competitive environment today, we need customers more than they need us, by using this maxim, companies are encouraging their employees to give away some satisfaction to gain the long term benefits of the customers. This is the way of encouraging employees to understand the needs of customers through their opinions and comments, even right or wrong. Even if you hate something, in the long run, if you want to earn high profits we have to sell what customers are willing to pay for, not what you we think they willing to buy.
"Never be satisfied", I think this needs to be updated. Either refine satisfaction or improve the notion of satisfactions to ease off the pressure of the brain, and allow it to expand and think broadly and with creativity. It's the satisfaction that makes one understand what they have earned. IF one is never satisfied, how would you be able to value your earnings.
"Nice guys end last", completely disagree with this as well. Today's business world is more about how well you treat your customers, many companies are improving programs that encourage personal attachment to the customers. Today the value also includes treatment of the customers, not just the product. I would go to someone who talk to me with respect and be nice and friendly and pay more than going to someone who is mean and just want to get my money.
"Grow or die", I think this is true in the long run. Business which do not sustain themselves in the long run usually end up shutting down. In short run, this is completely against the rules of running a business.
These principles are needed to be amended or replaced to make the message they are passing on to companies more understandable and measureable.
I think the old maxims need a radical change that would influence people as much as the previous ones do.
I personally disagree the most with "the customer is always right." I have always worked in some kind of customer service, and once I was fired from one of the nicest jobs I have ever had because a customer lied about my behavior and my boss agreed with her even thought she made absolutely no sense.
I agree with every suggested replacement for the obsolete maxims. I actually believe these could be applied not only on the business world but on one's personal life and bring remarkable benefits.
I think Balance is the key.
Anything extreme on one side is not good.
From my perspective as an employee, I strongly agree with first 2 new maxims.
too much pressure just ruins the ability of employee and sometimes customers ask more than reasonable service they pay for.
I agree that these maxims are out-of-date and needs to be revised in a way so that it will create a sense of balance between opposites and come to agreement. I believe that as humans, we're bound to make mistakes no matter how cautious we are. Failure is an option! I don't think anyone would like to fail but we can't prevent it from happening. The only thing we can do is try and hope for the best. I don't believe in the maxim that "the customer is always right" because customers are people who make mistakes as well. If employees are blamed for the customers mistakes, it would be unfair to the employees which could lead to internal conflicts or more unnecessary confrontations. What is needed is to settle any complications in an efficient manner so that no one would be hurt needlessly. Anyway, I learned that we shouldn't accept things the way they are because things can become obsolete and therefore change needs to occur. Learn to question things even if they are maxims, because you might gain valuable insights or a deeper understanding.
Hi, professor. I agree that a lot of the things that you put up are wrong things to follow in business. However, I believe the Maxim of Never Be satisfied is correct. What it means to me is to constantly innovate, try harder do better. Always strive for perfection. Since perfection can never be achieved we can all strive to it and never be satisfied.
Hi Professor. About the first maxim "failure is not an option", do you truly believe that if companies started saying that "failure is an option" people would take it seriously? I think that employees would take job less seriously if failure was an option. It is also mentioned in your blog that people tend to do worse when working under pressure. I personaly agree with that, but for many people it is a total opposite. Certain people, need pressure to push them. I think those five maxims should be improved only in certain companies. Not all.
I believe this is a very nice description of what business maxims you think should be removed from the business world. It sort of reminds me of the Discovery show "Myth Busters". Out of all the maxims that you posted I felt very content to see that you don't agree with the "customer is always right" cliche. I also believe that this phrase has been overused and it doesn't make any sense. Yes in a business world the customer is extremely important but this shouldn't be a business strategy because sometimes customers are a pain to deal with and if this is the case the employees are the ones who should be protected. Nobody should loose their jobs because of a lousy customer.
Interesting maxims! I've definetly heard of all of them, but I'm not sure if companies still use them. I think every company/manager has different managing styles, and as much as I don't agree with the 5 maxims you posted, I think that these maxims may be inspirational/ right for some people out there. There's different ways to analyze a maxim, and it may be applied in certain situations...
Overall, I believe that everyone is human.
People make mistakes and hopefully learn from them, it's also important how you perceive you own mistakes along with how other people perceive your mistake. I think that those who don't admit to their mistakes- arent that ethical after all.. How about "Failure happens. Learn from it."
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I love you!
The ultimate maxim: Prof. K is the coolest!
Hey Prof.,
I agree with you on this topic, especially with the second maxim.
Many of us have had experience working in retail or service industry. While I personally, have never felt that the satisfaction of the consumer was placed above my hard work as an employee, I have felt that that the constant interaction with unreasonable, and at times ignorant, customers, did create an unhealthy environment to work in. This always resulted in more customer dissatisfaction and ultimately, in employees' resentment towards coming into work and wanting to contribute.
While the new maxim you suggested should help solve this problem, like the other suggested maxims, I do think it will take a long time before the old ones go away and new and improved maxims will take their place.
I agree mostly with all of the maxims that have to go. Especially the one about failure. I was taught that failing is bad, but have grown to believe otherwise. I believe that failing is crucial in any aspect of life, whether it is in management, school, or life. If a person never fails, how do the learn? Success if the worst teacher, well that is what I believe. This message though has to be an implicit message for some people because if certain types of people knew that failing was an option then they wouldn't try as hard. The only time to me failure is bad is when the person or company gives up. Its like falling down but not getting up. You cant judge a person or company for failing but you can judge then for their action after they fail. I agree with the other maxims, especially the one about customers always being right. PLEASE!!! Screw that!!!!! I used to work in retail and there were some customers that just were WRONG, I mean completely wrong!I worked for Nordstrom and the customers always got what they wanted. Since the customers were aware of this I think they took advantage because they new they were always going to get their way.The only maxim that I have issues is I guess is the never be satisified maxim. The post says that when your never satisifed its stating to you and your employees that they are not good enough. I guess from my background and my current standing in life, I can not be satisfied, especially not yet. Just because I am not satisified, does not mean that I am not appreciative, it is possible to be both. I am thankful for what I have but know that there is alot more out there for me an my family. Why just get by in life when there are vast opportunities to do or achieve more? This is why I am never satisified. I guess when it comes to a company, maybe that message does make the employees feel like they are not good enough. I guess I will find out when I start my company.
People have become to reliant on old adages which may have worked at some point but no longer do because they lack relevance in our time. I was very grateful when you mentioned in class and in this entry that failure is something you cannot avoid. That has been my mantra which hasn't really been validated by anyone.
Failing miserably is possibly the best thing that can happen to you in your life. Not only do you learn from your mistakes but the experience humbles you. Humility is one of the most important things in life and should be part these business maxims.
I think your new maxim, "Happy employees means happy customers" is relevant to the airline industry. We see from the way the employees behave towards the customers that there is a distastefulness they experience in their jobs and that in turn leads to unsatisfied customers.
Virgin America brought a new approach in the way they do business here in the States that follows your updated maxim.
By the way, "Nice guys finish last", I thought that only applied to getting girls but it's good to know that isn't the case in business :)
I totally agree with the replacement to all these maxims, especially with the thought of growth through acquisition. As we learned in class, taking on new ventures do not always guarantee success, and also mena taking on new risks. I believe before moving to new lines of business or acquiring another company, a firm must strengthen it's own company as much as possible first. I also believe that nice guys can get the job done, and a stern approach may only work in few situations. I am also a fan of keeping employees satisfied. There was a Harvard research study of the workflow of the pharmacy operations at CVS, where the majority of unsatisfied customers were stemmed from dissatisfied employees. This was a contributing factor to over 2.5 billion dollars in lost sales. So yes, these old maxims should definitly be evaluated and put under revision when necessary.
I definitly agree with all the new maxims. My strongest point is to the "customer is always right" maxim. There was a Hard research study on the operations of CVS pharmacies that found that 2.5 billion dollars in lost sales stemmed from unsatisfied customers which were due to dissatisfied employees. By looking internally to fixable problems, we can prevent such losses. I also agree that before lokking toward growth, a comapny must look at all that can be worked on so far. Such growths as acquistion take on new risks that may put the company worse off than what it started with. I also agree to a point that was also driven in class; punishment fo4r failure stunts innovation. I beleive with the pressure of failure lingering in the employee's minds, the option to take simple, mediocre appraches would be a safe bet, but cut the possibility of producing exceptional ideas. In summary, I do believe thses maxims should continually be under evaluation and revision.
I apologive, that was a Harvard research study.
I especially believe the change to maxim #2 to "Happy Employees means Happy Customers". When I worked in Modells the manager always insisted on the Customer being the King. Just then when their sneaker is sold out or we don't have the product they are looking for they get really angry. Of course I get mad since they get angry at me. Then my theory X manager comes out and yells at the employees for the customer becoming angry. A lot of pressure is put on the employee when this happens, and it just brings down the morale of everybody. It's just a domino effect and I really think if the manager just understood how the employees felt, then the happy employees will lead to happy customers. Also with that style of leadership at a retail store where customers are really testy, made many employees quit and every department was always understaffed, leading to more unpatient customers. I understand all the other maxims, but this is the one i really experienced so far.
While reading through these old Maxims, I saw two that I have never questioned before. They were, Never be satisfied and Grow or die. I use to think that these two maxims went hand in hand. I was under the belief that a company should never be satisfied and always looking for ways to improve. And when I thought of improvement, I always thought of growth first. And if a company didn’t grow, it would be left behind and get pushed out of the market. It is interesting to hear that these maxims aren’t necessary, and may even be wrong. It is unfortunate that so many people believe in these maxims without contemplating the issues themselves.
While reading through these old Maxims, I saw two that I have never questioned before. They were, Never be satisfied and Grow or die. I use to think that these two maxims went hand in hand. I was under the belief that a company should never be satisfied and always looking for ways to improve. And when I thought of improvement, I always thought of growth first. It is interesting to hear that these maxims aren’t necessary, and may even be wrong. It is unfortunate that so many people believe in these maxims without contemplating the issues ourselves.
I consumer, therefor I exists? I spend, therefor I am?
Do you agree or disagree?
I agree with the new 5 maxims, especially the first one. "Failure is not an option." Failure could make us to become a better person when we think failure as a lesson and keep trying to correct the problem. We should know why we wrong and how we could change it. That’s the key.
With regards to innovation, I thought to myself, I will not be poor if I can invent something that no one can replicate. However, is it possible to invent something that no one can replicate, not even the inventor or the thing being invent itself? DNA replicates, computer replicate itself, AI can possible replicate and destroy its inventor, and universe seems to be able to expand and replicate? Then it comes to business, does it makes good business sense to invent something that no one can replicate? Or should I invent something that few people can replicate and salable? A good invention is not a good invention if there is no demand for it, or is it considerable? In business, what is a good innovation?
Nice guys finish last, but nice guy is the last to finish and finish with the best.
About maxim #2, “Happy employees means happy customers.”
Honestly, I’ve never felt that I was treated as a king and am always surprised about how poor customer service is. I think that the problem is lack of knowledge and professional attitude on the side of customer service staff. Customers are complaining with reasons and get angry because they feel they can not get the information they need. For example, I often experience customer services telling me that they can not help me or solve my problem, or the problem is not the fault of customer service. I would expect, that in a situation like that their job would be to transfer me to someone who can solve the problem or give me an answer.
I am not saying that customer services have to treat customers as kings, but they have to take their responsibility serious. I believe the key to customer satisfaction is not a happy employee, but a knowledgeable and professional service.
I like your new maxim #1 “Failure happens. Deal with it.” About #1, it is really true but difficult to think that way. I saw some people use people’s failure to increase their own power in offices. I feel this tends to happen between high-level people. Of course this is not a healthy nor productive environment, but it is real life. Unfortunately, if you are working in this kind of environment, you need to be very careful about how you behave in the office.
As the world is becoming more and more aware of the environmental issues, globalization and the poverty in third world countries it is great that the business is keeping up with the trends. Hopefully this will put the jerks where they belong, on the bottom. I had a boss who was a hard core supporter of the old maxims and I am disgusted with the idea of having to work with people like him.
Very relieving thing to read. I hope that the new maxims will establish their roots in the business and stay.
Old maxim #1: Failure is not an option
I am agree with this maxim because I think that if we didn’t make any mistake how can we learn it?
Old maxim #2: The customer is always right
Personally, I don’t think customer is always right because we are human and we make mistake sometimes. Nobody say that they are prefect. So, how can customer can be always right?
Old maxim #3: Never be satisfied
We as employees, we should always appreciative with what we had done, however; we shall not think that we are the only one that can do this or that.
Old maxim #4: Nice guys finish last
Well, in reality we like to step down or step on the people that seem nice to use because I want to use them as stepping stone. On the other hand, nice people will get more social support when they are needed.
Old maxim #5: Grow or die
I agree with this statement. Well, sometimes it may not be a good idea to be too aggressive in business activities because there is an old saying; it said that “No news means good news.”
Hopefully, all the business people will use the right maxim that serves the best for their company.
I would like to comment on two of the maxims that I can personally relate to:1. Failure is not and option. Fortunately, my parents never tried to instill this adage in me. However, my parents, who are both educators have always said " If you fail to prepare, then be prepared to fail". Though this may seem very negative, it let me realise that failure is an option and that I will not succeed at everything.Moreso, it has helped to try to be prepared for everything I endeavor to do.
2. "The customer is always right." I definitely do not agree with this. Sure we should respect our customers and try to 'please' them as much as possible, but by no means are they always right. To say this would be a fallacy of composition. It implies that customers are perfect, and since each of us is a customer at some point or another, that would mean that we are all perfect, or in the very least completely rational at all times. This just does not make sense.
I completely agree with you.. with real life examples..
I was in charge of transferring administrative operations of the shop floor operations of a manufacturing company from Greesnboro,NC to the Dominican Republic. My boss wanted me to learn how to do everything that had to be done, and so I did. However when I got to the DR many things couldnt be done in the same way; not only it took me days of really hard work to convince him, but the pressure of avoiding any possible mistake made the process a living hell. Because of all the fuss, i ended up doing the work that could have probably been done in 3 months, in double the time.
Also, at another job as an account officer in a bank I had to live up to the customer's always right thing.. I spent hours at times with angry customers because they couldn't be treated with firmness for fear of loosing them... what my supervisor prob didnt calculate is that in the hour that i serviced an irrational customer for fear of loosing business, we lost 3 prospective customers during that hour and probably the next minutes that i took off to recover.
Happy employees means happy customers is pretty accurate. I know this guy who was never happy at work, and the owner of the business kept loosing customers all the time. suppliers suddenly wanted to make larger deliveries so they could avoid a few trips.. turns out no one liked the guy and that was hurting the business pretty bad. turns out the guy is my brother and the owner is my father.. Haha.. My father knew but he only went as far as telling him to be nice, but that was just the way he was.. even one of my friends who was our customer left us!
Maxim
Maxim # 1: Failure is not an option:
I do not agree with this because the person who takes the test fails. Nobody will fail if he or she does not take the test. By putting time pressure as constrain people perform better than not putting pressure. It depends upon the people nature, culture and the type of environment that one is grown up. For example, when I was in kolkatta, government officers often do not fulfill their responsibilities until some pressure was put to it. They would rather talk, gossip or have fun. I had to go to the west Bengal board of higher education over twenty times to evaluate my transcript. Finally, I requested the Nepalese consulate to write a letter to the chief in order to get the job done. This might not be true in the United States though. People are friendlier and often fulfill their responsibilities. I also agree that sometime failure happens; we have to deal with them. My high school friends have completed their graduate school and started working five years back. I sometime do consider myself a failure. However, I convince myself that I am at least trying myself to reach them one day.
Maxim#2:The Customer is always right
I highly agree with the new maxim Happy Employee means happy customer. Sometimes, customers are pain in the neck. Back home in Nepal, I was working as a concierge. There was a huge group check out early morning. They were going for trekking to the base camp. They had left some luggage to store at the hotel. One of the bell boys cut all the old tags of the baggage of airline and hotel. Unfortunately, on her return the guest made a big issue. In order to make her happy, we offered free meal and even took 50% off from her room. The staff was penalized with a memo from the HR. I think that was unfair. If the employer trusted the employee to a certain degree, then it would create a better work environment
Maxim# 3: Never be satisfied.
I agree with this Maxim because it is a human nature. If people were satisfied, we would not have these developments. In order to survive we must be unsatisfied. For example: a person working is always looking for a better job. He is never satisfied with what he has and this brings him growth in his career.
Maxim# 4: Nice guys finish last
In this situation, I agree with the new Maxim. Nice guy gets the job done because in my opinion, people are nice and trustworthy only if they take responsibilities.
Maxim# 5: Grow or die
I agree with the new Maxim because to grow or die is not an option. Even on business to exist sometimes matter. And that existence can help a company grow too. For example, during recession or new product development, and even failure of a product a business has no choice. They can either be wiped out or bought out by another company. But some companies often try to exist even though they are not making profit and perform better in suitable conditions. The success of I-pod has brought Apple grow.
Maxim # 1: Failure is not an option: I do not agree with this because the person who takes the test fails. Nobody will fail if he or she does not take the test. By putting time pressure as constrain people perform better than not putting pressure. It depends upon the people nature, culture and the type of environment that one is grown up. I also agree that sometime failure happens; we have to deal with them. Maxim#2: The Customer is always right: I highly agree with the new maxim Happy Employee means happy customer. Sometimes, customers are pain in the neck. In Nepal, I worked as a concierge. Some of the staff cleaned up all the airline and hotel tags from the luggage. In order to make the guest happy, we offered free meal and even took 50% off from her room. The staff was penalized with a memo from the HR. I think that was unfair. If the employer trusted the employee to a certain degree, then it would create a better work environment Maxim# 3: Never be satisfied: I agree with this Maxim because it is a human nature. If people were satisfied, we would not have these developments. In order to survive we must be unsatisfied. For example: a person working is always looking for a better job. He is never satisfied with what he has and this brings him growth in his career. Maxim# 4: Nice guys finish last: In this situation, I agree with the new Maxim. Nice guy gets the job done because in my opinion, people are nice and trustworthy only if they take responsibilities. Maxim# 5: Grow or die: I agree with the new Maxim because to grow or die is not an option. Even on business to exist sometimes matter. And that existence can help a company grow too. For example, during recession or new product development, and even failure of a product a business has no choice. They can either be wiped out or bought out by another company. But some companies often try to exist even though they are not making profit and perform better in suitable conditions. The success of I-pod has brought Apple grow.
I believe that the 'never be satisfied'/always want more are two separate items. I can be satisfied with the quality that I have produced, yes, but I will ALWAYS strive to be better. The lack of complacement should be more emphasized. That is how I interpret that maxim.
Hi Professor,
I was really impressed with your experience of a failure.
We had a similar situation at my work where I messed up on a project and was reluctant to go and tell my boss that this project was afailure.
But I gathered the courage and went and told him and he said "he never expected to come and apologize as the project itself had wrong directions" but he appreciated my honesty a lot.
Since then, he trusts me a lot.
I completely agree that old maxim #1 must be forgotten. I can attest that working under pressure really does make a person less effective. Whether I am at work or in school, I try to avoid pressure as much as possible this way I can be most effective and think clearly. Although it is important to set benchmarks, it is also important to set REALISTIC benchmarks. A lot of times people put too much pressure on themselves to try to succeed. I believe that failure is just like you said, a part of life and we must deal with it. I believe we should take our failures and learn from the as much as we can in order to do better next time.
I also believe old maxim #2 is garbage. When one walks into a store, they should have some type of idea of what kind of service to expect. A customer cannot expect custom service in every store. A clothing store such as Macy’s should not go above and beyond just to meet one finicky customer’s needs.
I believe old maxim #3 should be applied to everyday life and to every aspect of a person’s life. I believe every person should be self motivated enough to achieve their goals. If one is satisfied with everything that comes their way, they will never be unique. They will always be just one of the sheep that follow the flock. “Never be satisfied” means analyzing every situation and trying to find ways on improving.
I can’t really reply to maxim #4 because I do not have much corporate world experience. But I do think that to be successful, one must maintain a balance of niceness?? and aggressiveness.
Maxim #5 is not necessarily true, although it may be true in most cases. A business such as a Laundromat does not have to grow and expand its stores or locations just to be successful. It is not a franchise which is open to public a investment, but rather a private investment. With the proper strategic location, a laundromat can be successful.
However, I do agree with your maxim that you should grow when you gotta. I believe a proper amount of experience is required before any type of growth takes place. We all hear about NBA players leaving for the league to early. With very few exceptions these players turn out to be a bust. I believe growth is about experience and when the time comes, then you can move on to the next level.
yes, I think it is true that some old practices or experience may lead people to make bad decisions. sometimes people are just too lazy or too confident about what they know, which they perceived as the instrumental guaidlines. nevertheless, too think things more differently than what other people have told you and have your own unique prospect can be really beneficial in some cases.
While I think all the new maxims are important, there are some I have more to comment on.
Old maxim #1: Failure is not an option
I think my heart trembled when I read the sentence “because employees who never make mistakes never do anything interesting.” This is like directly pointing to me. I am not fear of the failure but mistakes. Wonder how those two differ from each other. What I meant is just because I try to avoid any mistake to achieve the goal; I DO make myself becoming so boring and learn nothing actually that I can’t even recognize myself especially in term of the course grades. It’s so true that if you limit yourself from failures, you do in a good degree shut down yourself to opportunities. Besides, there is never a better opportunity to learn more about yourself than when you fail.
Old maxim #3: Never be satisfied
I did make this misconception as well of “never be satisfied.” Thanks, Professor for pointing out!
Old maxim #5: Grow or die
This is such an important concept for EVERY business. I have worked at some small to middle sized companies and saw most of them made this kind of mistakes. A lot of times, most bosses were always thinking about how to expand their business either jumping into a related or sometimes totally unrelated market or increasing market shares in some way. They were always thinking of that regarding less how they would do in current business in a year. I meant when they saw the profits were satisfying, they thought of the growth without even thinking about how to make current business or organization structures more substantially. I never got their logic. One company did actually go out of its business completely because the boss was so concerning about achieving a rapid growth.
I have to agree with most of these New business maxims and with the fact that most of these are used often and most people just take them for what they ware without asking why or why not? The maxim that stands out most is "Failure is an option." I tend to learn best from my mistakes. Kind of like "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"
I disagree with that, failure is an option becouse we can learn from our mistake and do better next time.
This blog is so true on many levels. My favorite maxims that are on your type 5 of outdated maxims are 1. Failure is not an option, 4. Nice guys finish last, and 2. The customer is always right. You're the one the taught me that failure is an option and failure is good because you learn from mistakes..take a risk once in a while if not your life is pretty much that same and boring. My next favorite is Nice guys finish last because that's absolutely not true. Maybe you shouldn't be too nice so people would take advantage of you but being nice and respectful leads to others trusting you and also respecting you back. I love your reasoning behind this maxim. Last but not least my absolute favorite and one I can definitely relate to is the Customer is always right. No way is this true, sometimes maybe but not if the employee is smarter. I work at a pizzeria once a week and there really are some dumb people out there that ask for certain things or say certain things that make no sense what so ever. They think because they are spend $3.50 on a slice and drink they deserve everything and the world's best service plus they have no consideration if you're busy helping 1 or 16 different customers they have to be attended to right away because they were first. I don't know I could go with this maxim for hours and say many examples but I won't all I got to say is great choice and I'm glad there a people out there that think this maxim doesn't make sense too.
Failure is an option, there is a saying in my country. Failure is mother of success. We are trying to do everything in a right way, but we may not have enough ability or experience.
I learned with time that yes failure happens and deal with it. It is often unpleasant but usually you can learn a lot from it
I used to work in a restaurant, a business where some of these maxims are written in gold letters above their front door. That ‘The customer is always right’ is their most fundamental error. They feel so pressured by competition that they are willing to offer anything to the customer in the hope that they will gain a second visit. In doing so they overlook the importance of their staff, who are the ones dealing directly with the customer. I’ve seen people get fired over the most ludicrous complaints. And afterwards I also noticed a low morale in the restaurant’s staff and a general discontent towards the way management was treating them. Mistakes are also heavily looked down upon, the slightest complaint will make the manager go crazy, and often times the staff member pays for the disgruntled client’s meal. Of course, nobody says anything to you when you get praised for the service you offered, because, well, that’s just part of your job description, not something they particularly have to appreciate. I guess they build their business on the assumption that so many other people are looking for a job in this industry that you can easily be replaced. Customers actually tend to feel that kind of attitude and I’ve seen some regulars never going to a place once they understood the way staff is treated. In a lot of small business these rules are still applied, because on a first look they seem to make a lot of sense. Few take the time to rally understand how their business could look if they would be more flexible in their ‘internal regulations’.
I agree with the need for change. Traditional methods are meant to be broken to create a society with rules more fit for the present.
When reading these business related maxims, I thought that the sayings were there for advertisement. Advertising concepts of how one should act in either the buyer or seller conditions. For example: Customers are always right! In the real world, we look back at our own work experiences with customers and think, thats not right. But, "customers are always right" gives people an image of society. It creates a misconception of how people can get anything they want or whatever they want because they hold power.
And, nice guys finish last is created for those in the business world. Those who actually work in the companies such as the employees. In order to get to the top, market yourself. Do better then others. Who cares about others because the only one you got is yourself.
Are these sayings right?
Maybe
Can we change?
Of course.
Maxims are not governing laws. They are there to create an image of the ideal business world. Maxims encourage people to buy products and to believe that businesses can be trusted. Its there to encourage customers to buy into the products and we also need workers. Hard workers to try their best to help market the products. Never be satisfied is a maxim telling people to rise up higher and do more. Work more and buy more. The balance between the consumers and sellers are sometimes centered around these ideals because they believe that this is what helps our "business world" go round. But this isnt true. I believe things can be changed for the better. Businesses should not be centered around such drastic ideals.
I'm sure when I say this many will agree, all of the maxims that you stated has been stressed over and over and over our whole lives. A few that stick out is "the customers always right" and "nice guys finish last." In retrospect, these maxims are absurd. I feel that there are always different ways to look at things and your new maxims are definitely and upgrade for old models.
Even though "grow" might be a powerful motive to work hard, sometimes being "stable" worths more. I view growth as an opportunity, but it can cause disaster at the end. Companies which grow very fast usually ends up having a "recession". However, companies which are consistently growing at a slower pace have a higher chance of having a long-lasting stability.
I highly agree that happy employees means happy customers. From what I have experienced and observed, employees who are truly happy and enjoy doing their work (not faking), treat their customers much more nicely. I am sure most customers would want to see an employee who brightly smiles and talks politely to them. That leaves a good impression, and the customer would therefore be satisfied with the service and the company as a whole.
1. Other new maxim #1.
"We know that failures happen and it's ok. But let's try to avoid them."
2. Other new maxim #2.
"Let our customers think that they are always right."
3. Other new maxim #3
"Success is in progress."
4. There is a nice book about that point by Keith Ferrazzi "Never Eat Alone." Here is an excerpt: "I came to believe that in some very specific ways life, like golf, is a game, and that the people who know the rules, and know them well, play it best and succeed. And the rule in life that has unprecedented power is that the individual who knows the right people, for the right reasons, and utilizes the power of these relationships, can become a member of the "club," whether they started out as a caddy or not..."
5. I completely agree with this one. To prosper you have to survive first, to survive you must be able to evolve. Evolution has little to do with growth alone. In fact, uncontrolled growth of cells is called "cancer."
It's hard for people to adapt to change. However, change is necessary and without change we will be harming the business world. Failure is part of life. Innovation will not be possible without failure. Innovation comes from risks that often involve failure. People who are under the pressure of always succeeding are often the ones who fail more. The overwhelming pressure causes employees to be less efficient. Maxim #2: The customer is not always right. This reminds me of the story said in class about Nordstrom. The company clearly should not have taken back the tires. It's a clothing store! When an employee who clearly knows he/she is correct, but gives in to the customer complaints because "the customer is always correct," may feel inferior and useless and in turn act hostile and angry. A negative company image can be a nightmare for a company. I personally would not want to do business with a company known for its deceiving employees. Nice guys do not finish last. It may take them longer to close a deal, but at least they get the job done and create trust amongst business partners. To measure success based on growth is a very bad option. Unexpected growth can cause chaos and destruction to a company. A company must be prepared to function on a larger scale. So the new maxim "Grow when you gotta" should definitely replace the old one.
I am totally agree with the second Maxim because thats what happen with me. Most of the time customers demand unreasonable things and then we have to think that customers are always right. Because that is what our ears are filled by managers. I don't like this in United States. If we don't even think about employee who is giving service there to customer, then he/she can never provide good service.
I am totally agree with you in each and every situation on this maxim. They are out of dated, they need to be replaced now. There place is in garbage. we need change now.
I think the new maxims are more reasonable than the old maxims. The old maxim #1 says that failure is not an option but how can we learn new things without trying out new things. No child would learn to walk without falling. Minimizing the chance of failure is the way to go. Old maxim #2 says that customers are always right. That’s not true at all. However, all the customers should be treated nicely even when they are wrong. Old maxim #3 says that never be satisfied. It is selfish never to be satisfied. On the other hand the new maxim says that always be appreciative but never complacent, which brings harmony in relationship and improve quality of the work environment. Old maxim #4 says that nice guys finish last. It might take nice people to achieve something longer, but they are able to do more things in the long run. Old maxim #5 says “grow or die”. Depending on the business you might need to change strategy to stay in business but growing is not an absolute necessity to survive. So, as the new maxim says “grow when you gotta” is the way to do business.
I think it is very important to realize that while there are some time honored traditions in business, some of these maxims are no longer relevant to the business climate that currently exists. I think a lot of these maxims were created out of a lust for success without a complete evaluation of what it really took to be successful. Case in point: Failure is not an option. The statement itself makes no sense. It has to be an option, maybe not an option that you would like to exercise, but it is still an option. I have always been a firm believer that there was something seriously flawed with “the customer is always right.” The fact is, there are some unreasonable people that enter your store and you cannot allow them to treat your employees in a disrespectful way. You have to face your employees everyday, but one customer and one problem is not worth the headache that may be caused with the lowering of the morale at your business. I think we should always strive for more and want to exceed our own expectations. We sometimes find ourselves in situations where we feel we have to be a bad guy to get ahead, but the fact is: we don’t. Getting the job done in a competent fashion is usually enough. I think efficiency is far more important that growth. There are some small firms that are able to churn out as much revenue as much larger firms because they are efficient. Just because your firm is enormous, does not mean it is well run. This was a great article!
For the first maxim that failure is not an option, i kind of agree with the term. You said that under the pressure, people would hid their mistakes especially with a punishment. I looked at this differently. Under the pressure of not to fail, people would try to find their mistakes, not hid it, to make things more perfect. Maybe not one hundred percent perfection, but at least i believe that they would improve their work at some level.
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